While undergoing breast cancer treatment in 1993, Karen Eubanks Jackson found no national helpline for Black women and created one. Sisters Network became a national organization in 1994 and now has more than 25 survivor-run chapters.
Jackson built the organization to challenge silence, shame and stigma around breast cancer. Its national STOP THE SILENCE campaign grew from that effort. Sisters Network argued that recommending a first mammogram at 40 was too late, as some women in Jackson’s community were diagnosed in their 20s and 30s. The article says triple-negative breast cancer, which disproportionately affects Black women, did not yet have a name.
Sisters Network is launching a Center for Public Policy to lead its state policy agenda and train survivors in advocacy through its chapters. During the pandemic, the organization taught its leaders to run webinars, and they taught members; Jackson said the nonprofit survived and grew.
